


Queen's Rising

by elaine



Series: Sentinel and Harper [7]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, The Sentinel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, M/M, Mating Flight, Sentinel/Guide Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-21
Updated: 2012-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-29 21:35:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/324397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elaine/pseuds/elaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meganth, Blair's dragon, rises for her first mating flight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Queen's Rising

“Great fardling eggs!” J’mellison cursed, as the force of his landing sent him tumbling to his knees on the rocky outside ledge of his quarters. He’d leapt the moment Sweetheart had gotten close enough to make it a slightly less than suicidal risk. “ _Go!_ ”

_I am_

The downdraft of Sweetheart’s powerful wings made him stagger. Of all the cursed luck… they’d been expecting this for days and  _still_  Meganth had chosen the scant hour he’d taken to visit Southern Weyr on an urgent errand to rise in her mating flight. It had only taken the space of three heartbeats to fly  _between_ , but even coming in dangerously low they’d wasted precious seconds for Sweetheart to rid himself of his rider. The other bronzes of Benden Weyr were already small black spots in the sky as they followed Meganth upwards.

Though there was no immediate hurry now, J’mellison made his way to Blair’s adjoining chamber as swiftly as he could. Blair was there his face upturned, rapt – and surrounded by a ring of bronze riders, not all of them from Benden. Whichever dragon claimed Meganth on her mating flight, his rider would also claim Blair; and that rider would be J’mellison. No other outcome was acceptable.

Still, he couldn’t help a momentary flicker of doubt. Blair was a good rider; no, a great rider, but this was Meganth’s first mating flight and dragon lust was a dangerous distraction. There were few things on Pern more powerful. Meganth wanted Sweetheart to be her mate as deeply as J’mellison wanted Blair, but she was inexperienced in this and so was Blair.

 _I won’t let any other dragon claim me._  Meganth’s voice in his head always startled him, no more so than now. The determination in her voice was reassuring but the way it faded at the end betrayed the effort of her flight. One mis-step and another bronze might still triumph.

J’mellison took his place in the circle and gave all his attention to encouraging Sweetheart as he rose, wings straining, to claim his mate. All else faded away.

***

_All around her there was nothing but empty space, the earth below just a smudge of green, gray, and brown with a distant glimmering of blue on the horizon. Burning with the glory of her mating urge, she pushed effortlessly higher, ignoring the dark specks below – her would be suitors. Sweetheart had joined them at last, but she had no intention of allowing him to catch up to her just yet._

_He’d not been there when she rose, and she was in a mood to punish him for his discourtesy. Even so, there was no other bronze she would allow to mate her – Blair would not like that, nor would J’m, who she loved almost as much as Blair._

_She spread her wings wide, coasting for a while, letting the remaining bronzes draw closer before climbing still higher. It took more effort than before, but her pursuers now numbered only four and two of them were visibly tiring. They fell away soon after, and now there was only Sweetheart and one other, a bronze she did not know. She didn’t bother to query him, since he was irrelevant._

_Irrelevant, but he was proving to be annoyingly persistent._

_Increasingly frustrated, she folded her wings and swooped down towards Sweetheart, who trumpeted encouragingly to her; but the unknown bronze was between them. No matter how she twisted and turned and looped, he was always in the way, and she realized that, rather than pursuing her, he was blocking Sweetheart. A clever tactic – admirable, even, if she’d had any intention of allowing him to mate her. Perhaps Sweetheart would tire, or she might make a mistake that would give him the opening he needed._

_In fact, as her wings began to strain, her determination falter, she feared that he might even prevail._ That _could not be. She swooped around him, joining Sweetheart in a complex dance, but always the bronze held his station between them._

_Angrily, she snaked her head towards him, snapping at his wings, but he was too smart to fall for her feint. A bronze was too precious a commodity; every one of them needed to fight Thread. She dare not risk damaging him and he knew it only too well._

_Nor was he showing any sign of tiring. She considered the problem, rising away from both bronzes with more effort than before. There was only one solution she could think of. Blair would probably not like it. Glancing back down at the two bronzes, she fixed Sweetheart’s position clearly in her mind and sent him a desperate message:_ Hold your station. _Waiting just long enough for his startled assent, she went_ between _._

_Emerging from that brief flash of intense cold, Sweetheart was only a wingspan away, and for the first time, unprepared for Sweetheart’s sudden braking of his ascent, the bronze was no longer between them. Her mate roared in triumph and flung himself over her, covering her with his wings, his legs clasping her body as she folded her own wings, trusting herself to his strength. The other bronze turned away with a frustrated roar._

_They ignored him, climbing higher, their bodies intimately entwined._

***

The powerful rush of triumph combined with lust nearly sent J’mellison to his knees. He barely registered the fact that the last remaining bronze rider had stumbled from Blair’s chamber leaving them alone together. Shards, he knew all too well how that felt, but  _this_ …he took one unsteady step towards Blair, seeing the wild eyed, unfocused gaze, the mouth wet and slack with need, the pupils blown wide, eclipsing all but the thinnest band of blue.

The feel of fabric under his palms instead of bare skin seemed vaguely offensive. He tugged at the offending cloth roughly and it was gone. Blair surged into his arms, mouth against his fierce and desperate, but that wasn’t going to assuage their need. J’mellison pushed him away, turning him towards the desk where Blair kept his (increasingly neglected) Harper materials, his hands already sliding down to Blair’s hips.

He didn’t even remember the rest. J’mellison’s next moment of awareness came as his cock drove deeply into Blair’s ass. Blair howled and twisted in his grasp, pushing back against him, both of them compelled by the mating that was happening high above them. The blood in his veins burned like fire as J’mellison bent himself over Blair’s heaving back. He nosed at the side of Blair’s neck, pushing under the thick cloud of hair to where the scent was most potent. All his senses cried out to be filled with Blair.

Climax struck him hard, and once again darkness claimed him, though only for a heartbeat or two, no longer than going  _between_. He pulled free of Blair, his cock softened a little, but already the mating urge was rising again. He turned Blair to face him, pushing him up onto the desk and pushing his legs back up against his chest. Blair’s belly was smeared with seed, but his cock still rose hard and darkblooded. J’mellison groaned at the sight and was immediately hard again. This time, at least, he thought to reach for the vial of oil that always stood on Blair’s desk.

He took Blair again, the desk rocking beneath them, scrolls flying and jars falling to crash against the stone floor, and when they had both spent themselves leaned forward to kiss and suck savagely at that gorgeous mouth. Blair flung an arm around his neck and held him there with a strength that surprised them both.

“ _More,_ ” he hissed, his legs wrapping around J’mellison’s hips. “ _more_ , J’m!”

J’mellison’s legs were aching, already trembling with effort. Acting more on instinct than rational thought, he lifted Blair and stumbled them both towards the bed. Fortunately showing more foresight than he would have thought possible, Blair grabbed at the vial of oil before it was out of reach. J’mellison growled approval. They were going to need it.

***

 _Wow_.

There was no sound from the dragons, only a sense of smug satisfaction radiating from Meganth as she drowsed on her ledge and a low, rumbling snore from Sweetheart. Blair lifted his head cautiously and surveyed the wreckage of his bed. No. Make that his entire chamber… and J’m, sprawled face down beside him, his body scattered with bruises and scratches, and… were those  _teeth marks_  high up on his left shoulder? He let his head fall back onto the bed and stared up at the roof of his chamber without really seeing it.

He’d thought he knew what to expect. He had, after all, been through the aftermath of several mating flights with J’m. Even if there’d been no chance of Sweetheart mating any queen other than Meganth, it was dragon-bred instinct to rise and J’m would never have denied that to his beloved bronze.

What Blair had totally failed to consider was that this time there would be another dragon feeding their lust. Not only that – there was the Sentinel/Guide bond that allowed each of them to feel what the other –  _and_  their respective dragons – were feeling.

 _Shards_ …

And it wasn’t over yet. Blair eyed the long curve of J’m’s back and the lean, muscular buttocks and felt a stirring at his groin that should have been impossible. Under the influence of their dragons, J’m had only had one thought in mind, and Blair had been no less driven. His ass burned; he’d be feeling the aftereffects for days, but now he had something more reciprocal in mind.

J’m stirred, groaning softly, in response to the stimulus of Blair’s thoughts. After a moment he rolled onto his side, facing Blair. “Really? Shards, Blair, you’re insatiable.”

“You’re a fine one to talk.” Blair’s eyes traveled down J’m’s body, lingering meaningfully on his swelling cock. It might look as well used to the point of discomfort as Blair’s ass felt, but not unwilling. “You can lie back and let me do the work, if you like.”

“Do I have a choice?”

Blair grinned. J’m might grumble for appearance’s sake but he was already flopping over onto his back. Blair moved over to lie beside him, and captured his mouth in a long sweet kiss. Every part of his body was aching, including muscles he didn’t know he had, but he wanted this with a fervour that might be less intense than dragon-fuelled lust, but was no less real for all that.

Tired as they were, it took time for them both to become fully erect, but that was no barrier to their enjoyment as they kissed and touched, hands and lips gentle. And when Blair was finally ready he drew back, kneeling between J’m’s thighs and lovingly preparing him for the next act.

It was a joy to see J’m’s reaction, his body arching in pleasure, his head thrown back, his bottom lip bitten to redness. Suddenly, Blair wanted nothing, nothing in the world so much as to be inside of him. He groaned, his fingers trembling with need as he folded those long legs back across J’m’s body and eased his cock into J’m’s hole.

“Shards,  _yes_ …” J’m’s thighs clasped his hips. “Blair… please…”

He was all the way in, shaking with the effort of controlling himself.  _Don’t. You don’t need to_. The thought came clearly, something that rarely happened between them. “ _J’m_ …” He let loose all his thoughts, his emotions, pouring them through the bond; and gave himself up to the demands of his body.

After the exertions of the last few hours it was over all too soon and Blair allowed himself to sink limply into J’m’s arms, tucked against his side while they both gasped for breath.

He was almost asleep when Meganth’s voice intruded:  _Simonth tells me to tell you that T’gessian has called a meeting._

Beside him, J’m tensed and swore.

***

The meeting was well underway when J’mellison and Blair, hastily washed and dressed in their best riding leathers, strode side by side into the chamber. They hadn’t needed Sweetheart’s warning that the meeting was about Meganth’s mating flight to tell them trouble was brewing. Trouble had surrounded them from the moment that Blair had outraged the traditionalists by Impressing a Queen.

Any sensible group of dragon riders, knowing that a Sentinel and Guide bonded for life in much the same way as a dragon and rider, would have allowed Sweetheart and Meganth to mate unopposed but, joining forces with a coterie of riders who resented that Benden – the oldest of the weyrs, and not shy about using that position to its advantage – was the home of the only Sentinel dragon rider on Pern, they had forced through a vote in council that Meganth’s mating flight would be a “proper” one, open to all bronze riders who wished to try their luck.

 _And look what it got them_ , J’mellison thought grimly.  _If Meganth had been lost_ between…

A moment later, his thoughts relayed through the dragons as J’mellison’s had been, Blair sought to soothe his anger:  _But she wasn’t. She said she knew what she was doing and I believe her_.

But Blair’s belief obviously wasn’t shared by the council. The shouting died away as they entered and a stony silence fell. T’gessian rose to his feet, his face grim. “J’mellison, Blair, we have questions for you.”

“Questions? By the First Egg, we have more than fardling  _questions_!” K’ncaid’s face was almost purple with rage. “He has no control over that Queen. I said from the start he should never be allowed to ride her and now look what’s happened!”

“And what do you propose to do about that?” Blair stepped forward, his stance belligerent and J’mellison grabbed his arm to prevent him going any closer. “Take a dragon away from its rider? What tradition have you found that would allow such an abomination?”

There was no need to answer as dragon riders paled and distant roars of affront told the council exactly how well that would go. It would be tantamount to murder of both dragon and rider.

“Now, now…” T’gessian’s frown if anything, deepened. “There’s no question of separating Meganth and Blair. But you’ll admit Meganth’s… behaviour is of concern. If she’d been lost between we would have lost all four of you. Is that not so?” He turned to look at Master Rossan.

“Probably.” Rossan looked troubled. “It’s unlikely J’mellison would have survived the loss of his bondmate.”

Blair was about to say something, and it wasn’t likely to be anything that would improve matters. J’mellison sent him a stern glance and stepped forward. “Then don’t force us into a situation where we have to take risks.”

“You’re suggesting a private mating flight? It’s unheard of.” Alexa, K’ncaid’s Weyrwoman, interjected scornfully.

But Rossan was skilled at negotiations and he cleared his throat, waiting until most eyes turned to him. “So is a Sentinel and Guide pair who are also dragon riders. We have a unique situation which calls for a unique response.”

“All this  _situation_  requires is for the harper to control his Queen.” Alexa smiled thinly. She and J’mellison had had a few run ins and she hadn’t forgiven him for besting her. “If he can.”

Everyone looked at Blair.

“I’ve already forbidden her from doing it again.” Blair glanced at J’mellison and away again, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “She says she knew exactly what she was doing and it was completely safe. I… I don’t think I could stop her if she tries again, though. She knows what it would do to J’m and me if another bronze mated her.”

He looked up at J’mellison, guilt written across his face. Clearly, in his eyes, he’d failed, both in his duty to his dragon and to his Sentinel. It nearly broke J’mellison’s heart to see such distress on his lover’s face. “Blair…”

“No. Don’t J’m.” Blair met his eyes, then turned towards the council, his head held high. “I could lie to you and tell you that she’ll obey me, but I can’t risk losing…” His voice cracked and he swallowed. His jaw tightened. “I can’t take that chance.”

Uproar threatened again as everyone tried to make his or her opinion heard at once, but again, T’gessian took control. “Fine words, Blair, but it seems you and Meganth leave us little choice. We can’t afford the loss of a Queen and one of our best bronzes any more that we can afford the loss of a Sentinel and Guide.” There was little more than resigned irony in his voice and he sighed. “I put it to the council that we have no alternative but to agree that Meganth’s next mating flight will be restricted to her and Sweetheart alone. How say you?”

Several voices rang out immediately: “Agreed.” Followed, as much in resignation as acceptance, by a scattering of others. K’ncaid flung himself to his feet and stormed out of the chamber without voting. Alexa hesitated a moment longer, her ironic gaze sweeping across the assembly. Few met her eyes. Then she too left without voting. Four remained, unwilling but clearly in the minority. Each of them assented with varying levels of graciousness.

“The vote is carried.” T’gessian looked around the chamber, meeting each rider’s eyes in turn and none dissented.

Blair flung himself at J’mellison, arms going around his neck and tightening painfully. “We won!”

“Looks like we did.” J’mellison grinned dizzy with relief – and from Sweetheart’s roar of approval ringing in his head. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve got some ideas about how we can celebrate.”

Blair’s eyes heated, but he smiled demurely. “Better watch your tongue, J’m. Don’t forget we’re going to be daddies soon.”


End file.
